Method of burning bricks.



J. C. QUINN. METHOD 0F BURNING BEIGKS.

ArPLI'oATIon FILED JAH. 1s, 191s.

' Patented July 7, 19M.

2 SHEBTS-SHEET 1.

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V//TIVESSES J. o. QUINN, METHOD 0F BURNING BRGKS.

AIFLIOATION FILED JAN. 15, 1913.

with theu'sual gratos t.

or fairer ti and sauras 'rarnNT orFioE.

FURNACE EQUIPMENT COMPANY, 0255 NEW YORK, N.' Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

METHOD or BURNING Bm'cxs.

Specification of Letters Batent.

Patented July 7, 1914.

Application led January 15, 1913. Serial No. 742,203.

To FEZ inkomen: may concern Be it known that l'. JOHN C. QUINN, a citizen of the United States, residingf in the city. county. and State of New York, have invented the. following; described Improvements in ltiethods oi" Burning Bricks.

My invention an improved method of manufacturing bricks, seeking" to improve the etliciei-u'y ot' the tiring process, and consists in the success-'ion of steps hereinafter described in detail and more particularly defined in the a'fpcndcd claims.

ln the accomlianyiugr drawings forming part of this application have `ihown indiarani in Figure l7 u. layout of an ordinary brick kiln. the igure representing a section o' tho kiln at the plane oi' the, several gratcs thereof. i'ig. is a section view of such a kiln., and it .may bc he 'e stated that` the con- J struction and arrangement is aconnnonplace one. y

In the drawings the parte marked 1 rep! resent tho permanent walls of the kiln, and 2 riu-ireseutu the, permanent' floor thereof. 'lhe aslrpits 3 are 'formed in or slightly be low the levelof the floor 2, and are provided tt is customary to divide the grate surface of each of the tiropiaces iiito four sections, as shown, and I will de ecbe my process with reference to auch eotiona, although will be understood by the .e illed 'in this art that the entire grate area can be made of one section or ol anynuniberdesired. Each ash-pit has a. door i r'the retrieval of ash, and a connection, i rabiy underground. with a duct or tiue G whit.1

air and combustion products. branch i, l leads aiso from the duct (i to il e ot' the sinali furnace it. 'ainpcrs,

are fidcd at suitable i all an wili be The usuai fuel primi* for each are covered by the fiel, 'wl'iicl't will be i readily understood. The green bricks are stacked on the ioor 2 in arched formation over the respective lire places and in inflividually spaced relation yso as to `permit the products of combustion to pass through the mass and escape at the top 'surface which is covered 'by a layer of platting'bricks, as

usual.

Heretofore it has been the practice to Water-smoke `the green bricks b v building slow fires in cach of the'iircplaccs, keeping the-combustion down so as to provide heat only sutiicient t'or the purpose o'f drying out the clay aud without tiring it. This step has ordinarily rcfpiired some 4S to 72 hours, depending more or upon the nature of the clay. Thereupon, water-smoking having been completed, the fires have been quickened to the temperature desired and maintained at such temperature until the burn has` been finished, the last step taking Some 72 to 9G hours, making a total ot' about 144 hours for the entire process. The bricks then taken from the kiln are of various qualities, as is very well known, depending upon the thoroughness and particularly the ydiately above the i yMer-smoking fires; which by reason of their higher temperature create an upward draft at lthat, point through the stack. The flame from the quickened tire naturally follows this uptlraft course rather than seek 'the surrounding cooler bricln and is for this reason apt to over-burn the bricks where the chimneys are and generally near the heads of the kiln. I have been able to eliminate the difficulties from this cause` by the method constituting the present invention and according to which I' perform the step of water-smoking 'the green bricks by' blowii'ig either hot air or the produdtsiot combuution from the furnace 9 through them y y" Most efficiently IV use the products of combustion of the furnace 9 passingsuch prod! .llcts through the duet t and its several branches above described int-o the ash-pits 5 'ot' the several fireplaces, from which it rises into and through the stack. The pressure of this hot air or gas and the Ivelocity'at which it moves from the blower insures that itperrneates the entire `,stack of green 10 bricks in the kiln, without the formation of chimneys'. I carry on this water-smoking stepy for a period of about thirty hours, a1-

1 thoughI the step is not limitedito this iength of time .and 'will of' course vary with the circumstances. I then build preliminary tires on the extreme yinward ends of the gratos 4, for instance, on the innermost grate 'section or the two innermost sections, placing a sheet metal plete such as shown in osition at 15 (Fig. 1 and left-hand side of `ig'. 2) over the Voutermost sections so as to closeup the grate' osenings' thereof. These fires are purposelyy isposed in thev position stated so as 'to' be approximately under the quarters of the stackand inwardly of the heads of` thestaek and preferably they are placed as nearlyv direotlyunder the quarters as possible.. 'I regulate `the combustion of these' fires by'partly opening the doors i4,

and thereby I keepup a4 moderate rate 'of combustion, for e. period of .from eighteen to twenty h ours, although this length ot time ls'lsuhjeet to variationand depends' upon the refractoriness of the clay heing treated. These slow fires under `the quar-` ters, or inward'of theheeds will-not produce chimneys inthe kiln,- I ythen remove the plates 15 and enlarge the iresg'at the same time stimulating the combustion up to the 40 fullxor normal 'rate customary -for firing bricks, and for this purpose use a forced draft from the blower 7, and preferably suoli blower is Acoi'inected with the furnaf'eht), so as to deliver the products ot its combustionor partial combustion to the ash-pits of the kiln fireplaves. By then utilizing` the branch Passage 10 which leads to the asi- ]'iit of tis furnace 9, i am able to produg'e an eilluent in the latter consisting partially of C ().L which serres toproduce lengthened flames' froin the kiln lires. that `will extend well intoland through the stack. l eontinue this last step foeahout thirty hours, more or less, unt1l`tho'brieks are burned. On cooling. the bricks will he 'found to be lliure.

uniformly burned and to a more even quality than is possible with any -ot the present methods o'lA tiring, all of uhieh, as will be observed, is,accomplished in a shorter pw riodoi time.

The combustion taking plzu'o in each tire place in the kiln,hoth dur-ing the step of moderate heating which immediately foivlows the drying by hot gas and also during the highv firing, is to he regulated at each `for normal tiring.

l 2. In the manufacture ot' bricks, the proeess which consists in water-smoking a stoet; of green brirks in a kiln hy gassing heated gas therethrough, heating;l sueh staek by means of slow tiresA dis used inwardiy of the head ends of the sta(` the stack by larger and quicker tires to the point required for norma! tiring.

3. in the manufacture of bricks, the proeess which consists in water-smoking a stack of green hrieks in a kiln hy passing a heated gas therethrough, heating; such staeii: hy

means of restricted tires .dis iosed suhstanand then heating' tially beneath the quarters o the steek and then enlarging and quieirening such tires to i etfeet the burning of the ciay.

4. in the manufacture of brie-ks, the proeess which consists, first, in watersmoking e stark of green bricks hy means of heated gas under pressure above atmosphere, second,

lby moderately heating auch steek hy ineens of one or more fires disposed inwardiy :of the head ends of the stack, and, third., by highly heating: the stack to 'nuria the eiay.

,fil ln the manufacture of bricks, the proeess w-hirh consists, tiret, in Water-smoking a stark ot green bricks hy means of heated gas under pressure above atmosphere, second, hy

moderately heating suehstack 'by means of one or more tires disposed substantially under the quarters thereof, and. thirtljhy highly heating: the'stark hy one or "incre tires whiehare operated with u foreei-tlra=il containing combustion gases. l

in testimony whereof l have signed thi sla-eiliration in the presence of two wit\.

nessi-s.

n JOHN C QUNN. Witnessem K. L. (iu/isi, G. A. Tarma. 

